PARIS, Feb 2 (Reuters) - European buyers of U.S. spring wheat said on Friday there was no market for genetically modified (GM) wheat in Europe and warned they would take their business elsewhere if U.S. farmers began planting such crops.

"We will never be in the market for it," said Kjetil Gran Bergsholm, a trader at Norwegian importer Stakorn.

He said Norway bought 30,000-40,000 tonnes of high-quality wheat each year, and he chose between supplies from the United States, Canada and Kazakhstan based on price.

"We have to listen to our customers, and they don't want GM wheat. If the U.S. goes ahead with this, we'd have to turn to Canada and Kazakhstan to get those supplies," he said.

St. Louis, Missouri-based Monsanto Co (MON) said last month it was moving ahead with the world's first GM wheat product despite concerns about scientific tinkering with food grains.

Monsanto said it is developing a Roundup Ready variety of dark northern spring wheat, which it hopes to commercialise between 2003 and 2005. The wheat, modified to resist the company's Roundup herbicide, is designed to boost yields.

While Norway only buys a few thousand tonnes of U.S. dark northern spring wheat each year, Europe represents a key market for the grain.

According to USDA statistics, U.S. exports of dark northern spring wheat to the European Union and other western European countries totalled more than 1.1 million tonnes in 1999/2000 -- nearly a fifth of all U.S. dark northern spring wheat exports that year.

NOT READY

Fearing the loss of possible markets in Europe and elsewhere, the U.S. wheat industry has reached an agreement with Monsanto that calls for a panel to review a so-called identity preservation system the company is developing that would segregate GM wheat from non-GM wheat.

The industry has also given Monsanto a list of 17 key wheat importers and has asked it to work to gain customer acceptance for the wheat in those markets.

It was not immediately clear, however, whether Monsanto would be able to convince consumers in Europe -- a hotbed of opposition to bio-engineered crops -- of the benefit of wheat that is modified to resist a weed-killing chemical.

"Our customers -- supermarkets, bakeries and the like -- they're not ready for it," a purchaser at a large northern European miller said, noting European shoppers were increasingly aware of what went into the products they buy.

"It could mean that we would completely stop importing from that region if they could not guarantee that it is not genetically modified," he added.

Alexander Waugh, director-general of British and Irish millers' association NABIM, said his group was scheduled to meet Monsanto in the coming weeks to discuss its GM wheat proposal, among other issues.

"The reality is that for the time being, our customers in Europe don't really want anything genetically modified, and it's difficult to see that changing in the near future," Waugh said.

"UK millers have regularly pressed Monsanto that for genetically modified crops to have any marketing potential, they have to offer consumers a benefit," he said.

"Personally, I don't think Roundup Ready offers a lot to consumers."

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